On July 12, 1979, the Chicago White Sox held a promotion at Comiskey Park called Disco Demolition Night. Radio personality Steve Dahl, an anti-disco campaigner, was to blow up a crate of disco records between games of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Fans could get in for 98 cents by turning in a disco record. The team expected about 20,000 people, but at least 50,000 arrived, and many threw records like flying discs from the stands. After the explosion, thousands stormed the field and stayed until riot police cleared them. The second game was forfeited to the Tigers. Historians have since argued that the event helped accelerate disco's decline later that year, and some have also debated whether it reflected racism and homophobia.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.